So it Only Took 6 Months

To get a halfway decent picture of my brood.

And I couldn't resist the pic of Cole and me. Isn't he just DELICIOUS??

Walking Around a Little Lopsided

okay, so not literally. But I feel like it. I just can't seem to feel on top of things. I'm scattering to and fro like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland...I'm late! I'm late! I never wrote down any of my appointments and the list of appointments keeps growing. My business is picking up, which is good, but I can't paint letters all day while my house falls apart.

So a little balance would be good. And some good health, for once. Cole's rash got so horrendous that I finally took him to the doctor, who sent him to the hospital because he had a fever, too. I got excellent service at the hospital, which was wonderful, and they sent us home armed with 3 different ointments to slather all over my child. Cole was determined to have some mix of eczema and yeast that somehow got infected with an as-yet undetermined species of bacteria. He has been beside himself with discomfort so I'm praying he heals. And I'm praying that *I* heal. My throat is killing me.

We have dentist appointments today. Ashton's first. I know I can see at least one cavity on my own teeth and I'm just really, really hoping that the kids don't have any.

Okay, well, since the kids are all clamoring for breakfast, I need to download photos for eBay, make Wesley's lunch, load the dishwasher, paint some letters, and find my dental forms to fill out, then I really can't stay and ramble any longer. I know, I know...don't cry. I'll be back.

Sorry...Long Week

I have been a blogger slacker lately. This week has been sort of...weird. I got back from Arizona and was just WAY off kilter. I can't seem to find my groove (did I ever have one???) and the mountain of laundry that we have to CLIMB just to walk through the hallway is a big clue that I'm not just imagining things. I spent most of last week running in and out of zillions of stores (with three of my kids) gathering items for our MOPS craft, so nothing much was accomplished.

good news: My computer is FIXED! I still don't have it (we're getting new RAM installed) but thanks to Cheryl's advice (thanks, Cheryl) our friend at church resurrected my computer and I'm happy as can be. Note to everyone - if you haven't backed up your hard drive in a while, DO IT NOW. That's an order. :-)

I've been slightly obsessed with figuring out this ebay thing. I did get three orders in the first two weeks, which isn't bad considering all my competition and the fact that I don't have as extensive a portfolio as some of these women who have been doing it for ages. Still, since this is all new, I spend WAY too much time on the computer or down in my basement painting.

The weather here has been absolutely glorious. It's like I didn't even leave Arizona. I'm afraid that the last cold snap (which I missed, thank you God!) ruined our chances of getting a good bloom on my cherry tree (wah). But who cares, it's warm, darnit. And the kids can play outside!

I'm sick. I have swollen tonsils and a fever. I can't remember the last time I had a fever. I feel fine after Tylenol kicks in, but then I'm back to feeling like sludge when it wears off. And Cole has the WORST case of yeast in his neck folds that I've ever seen. Poor kid. He developed a special cry JUST for his apparent disomfort due to neck rash. It looks like all his skin has burned off. I've been slathering on the prescription cream, to no avail, but other things I'll be trying (besides calling my dr. which I'll do tomorrow) are yogurt with acidopholus (applied directly to the skin), lotrimin and corn starch.

If I don't feel too terribly ill tomorrow, I'm playing a major game of catch-up in this house. It's a major disaster and my laundry issue, rather the laundry pile, has grown to ridiculous proportions. More later.

Computer Go Bye-Bye

Well, I'm back from Arizona and was all prepared to post The Most Adorable Picture Ever of Cole sitting on the plane, and other fun pictures, but lo and behold, while I was on vacation my laptop decided to die a very dramatic death and crashed rather suddenly while I was sitting in the sun with my friend. (the laptop was sitting in a nice air-conditioned room at the time) I suppose that someone, somewhere might be able to fix it, but my husband is not very optimistic, since all sorts of corrupted .sys files are apparently bad. :-/

So, since I haven't backed up my hard drive since July, I've lost countless photos, many e-mail addresses, several of the websites on my favorites list, my Word files, my beloved monthly menu plan. That'll teach me. By the way, if you're reading this and your e-mail has changed since July, could you pretty-please shoot me an e-mail so that I can write you?

Anyway, Arizona was pretty fun. The weather was definitely an improvement, considering it was Snowing, in April, here in Michigan. It was great to see my friend and her brilliant toddler and darling baby. We went out a couple of times and had fun. We did, however, stay cooped up a lot at home, because her car does not hold four car seats, and we were awfully afraid that our two toddlers might just kill each other...or if not, that we might kill ourselves after listening to them fight almost constantly. so much for me resucuing Ashton from all the fighting at home! I just brought him to Arizona so he could continue throwing major tantrums and crying about everything over there. :-) The airplane trips were surprisingly glorious. The kids were so good, I was tempted to spend the next year doing nothing but sitting on seats for hours at a time with them on my lap, since that seems to be what they want. Undivided Mommy Attention for hours on end. Sure, nothing would get done in life, but my kids would be happy.

I did paint a mural for her, and luckily, I uploaded it to my photobucket album before the Great Crash, so feel free to view. I also kept up with my second week of eBay listings, and I'm slowly getting better and figuring out the best way to market this stuff. If any of you have a friend who wants letters, or YOU want letters, please go find me on eBay! These make great baby shower gifts, hint hint...

Audrey's Prayer Tonight

"Dear God, protect me from all the monsters and help me be good tomorrow and today was a good day, and I'd love to have a little sister, but I know that didn't happen and a deal's a deal...."

Your Needs

Here's an assignment for you:

Google "{your name} needs" and find the top ten needs that you have. :-)
Here are mine, apparently:

1.Sally needs a suitor who is capable of tending to her dreams and is willing to be second priority so that the people can come first. ... (this was from an anti-Sally website, apparently)
2. Sally needs YOUR HELP!!!
3. Sally needs to be reminded to multiply before adding (problem 1), that. 4. 2. is 4 X 4 = 16
4. Sally needs to update the partner's name in a couple places
5. sally needs a good home
6.Sally needs your help. Every month she works hard and earns a decent living, but she. always struggles at the end of the month to pay her bills
7.Obviously, access to the Internet will not meet all of Sally's needs,
8.Gas Chamber For Sally (Needs A Drummer!!
9.Sally needs to make progress
10.Sally needs more information. Why doesn’t Sally’s project manager want to discuss project risks?

Quarterly Resolution Review

Well, one quarter of 2007 has already passed (can you believe it???). It's time to see how I've been doing with my New Years resolutions.

1. Okay, this is on everyone's list, but I want to change my eating and exercising habits.

My grade: B-. For exercise I get an A but I was a real slacker in the eating department. Far too few nutrients, far too many fat grams. Not enough water. So this quarter I want to focus on quality foods and lots of fruits and veggies and water, and I want to continue working out 5-6 times a week and meeting my running goals. Oh, and by the way, I changed my running goals because I already met my first goal...I ran 3 miles in 32 minutes a couple of weeks ago.

2. I want to start cooking more and learning new recipes...My goal is to entertain and cook for other people at least once a month, ideally including people from my neighborhood or friends I don't see very often.

Grade: A- We didn't entertain in February, but that was due to scheduling problems (we tried)! We had people over at least four times in January and one or two times in March.

3. I want to put Cole in his own bed.

Grade: A (and I don' t even cheat). I did it the next day. There are times when I am running a groove into the carpet with all the walking-back-and-forth, but lately I've only been up once or twice just to re-bink. He and I both like our space.

4. I want to actually stay within my grocery budget.

Grade: C. I am closer to hitting it, but I still haven't managed to come under that magic number yet. And we've started to lapse back into the frequent dining out (on weekends anyway) and that's just more money that we don't need to spend.

5. I want to keep up with my current to-do list on my online housekeeping forum. I have been doing this with much success, and I'll be adding "read Bible" and "exercise" to those lists.

Grade: A-. My list is going strong, and I'm keeping busy. The "minus" is only because I keep myself a little too busy, and if I keep it up, I might face burnout.

6. I'd like to finish some house projects in 2007. The mural behind Audrey's bed, the boys' dresser, the basement safari mural. And I'd really like to find a way to make my artwork business profitable.

Grade: C. Haven't really done any of that, but not for lack of trying. More because my baby does not like to be ignored. :-) I am discussing a website with a lady and I'm trying to figure out eBay, and I have made some profit in the last three months. But the home projects - um, not gonna happen...yet.

7. Speaking of that, I'd like to find a way to get all my artwork sold and get rid of lots of stuff so that our garage becomes available for other things, like cars.

Grade: ? I sold a LOT of artwork at the Mom2Mom sale, but I have an ever-growing pile of stuff in the garage anyway. I'm hoping for a not-too-rainy summer and a great garage sale season. This item on the list MUST be done by the end of the year, per hubby's [desperate] request.

8. I'd like to implement a lasting and effective schedule for my kids, using charts and time-outs, Super-Nanny style.

Grade: B. The chart really works, but I have to be more consistent implementing it. We do have more of a bedtime routine now, and we have established "places for things" and some new consequences for certain infractions. My big focus for the upcoming quarter will be to plan out an eating and snacking schedule. We have been having very regular family meals and game times, though.

9. I want to grow in my prayer life and Bible reading, and learn much from my Bible Studies

Grade: C. Our church had a "spiritual checkup" for every interested individual last week. Since then my prayer time and bible reading have been regular (and WONDERFUL). But, unfortunately, before that it was pretty hit-or-miss. Cole is heading towards the 6-month mark and is sleeping well, so I don't have any excuses. This one is going to be TOP priority for the upcoming quarter.

Not so bad, but I see lots of room for improvement. And when I get there, I'll be totally perfect. Nah, just kidding. I'm already perfect.

Okay, just kidding again. It's April 1, is it not?

try as I may...

I can't get Cole to smile for pictures. This is what he thinks of all my trying.

I updated my murals page. See here for my newest work.